Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Dragon on the Air Waves

I have been a keen listener to The BBC World Service ever since 1997 (i followed the World Service's coverage on Lady Diana's death and funeral). Every time i have nothing to do or am having food i switch on the radio set and tune to the BBC on the SW channel.Its just not the news but also some other programmes like oneplanet,over to you, world drama, digital planet, travel guide and Have your say which give insight to things around the world and is a palce to interact with people from everywhere sharing thoughts.
Recently i have felt that tuning to the world service is like finding a needle in a haystack. The most clear and prominent broadcaster is CRI.They have a similar theme and the male presenter sounds a bit british. Its a perferct copy if you remove the branding. Everything is the same except thats its broadcast from china. the only flaw is that if you listen to the female presenter closely you will immediately spot the differrence. The have a similar topic of discussion each day (just like FM channels have in Bombay). Yesterday i spent 15 minutes changing radio stations to search for the BBC (the SW keeps changing as the time changes) and finally gave up as my lunch had gotten cold.I hogged the food and shook my head. The Chinese dragon sure is growling and spiting fiery darts on the airwaves.What next?